Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is a crime to miss out on a filled room with like mind, appreciative people, a crime which is exonerated if the venue is sold out but not when things such as television, just things, unwarranted intrusions in to the life of going out and being social, of supporting musical talent in any form or guise; it is a misdeed, a felony to miss out on the man with the pencil neck tie and a smile as broad as the Mersey, Jimmy Rae and the Moonshine Girls.

Being reminded of Time, of the fast and fleeting whirring hands is one thing but as Jimmy Rae announced to the Philharmonic Music that his new album, due out in February was recorded in the space of 24 hours, of electric that information was passed between the full room of admiring music lovers; Time is to be seen in such circumstances as a mockery, one day or 9 years, if the music flows as beautifully and with such vibrant chemistry as it did on stage for his support slot to the much loved Merry Hell, it only goes to serve Time notice that nobody really is aware of the tic and the tock, only the absence of great and genuine music.

Jimmy Rae & the Moonshine Girls, Izzy Ryder and Sara Lou Fletcher, Time matters only in that it means that moments such as performing to a crowd is taken very much to heart and the sound they love is heard. It is a sound that the once pristine Teddy Boy is very much open with his heart with and there is no denying that the Moonshine Girls have added an extra dimension to the music.

The Philharmonic Music Rooms was left with nothing but the buoyed up spirit of a support that was charming, upbeat, powerful and firm in its delivery and passion, this was Jimmy Rae at his most magnificent and in tracks such as Four in the Morning, Where is The Love, When We’re Old, the excellent Stick Your Rotten Job, Eddie’s Guitar, The Girl From Wisconsin and the elegant and serene Under The Mersey Moon, the crowd at the Philharmonic Music Rooms were treated to a set of undisguised joy which was to carry the flavour throughout the remainder of the evening.

Excellent to have Jimmy Rae back this side of the Mersey, a man of enormous talent and one who looks set to thrill with his new album.

Ian D. Hall